UWI label tipped to dramatically reduce food waste

A new label, which uses chemicals to let consumers know exactly when their food goes off, has been described as a 'game-changer' by its inventor.

Peter Higgins believes that the UWI label will help consumers save millions of pounds by preventing them from throwing away perfectly good food.

The labels are able to monitor when a consumer opens a jar of food and will countdown the amount of time that users have to safely finish the food afterwards. According to uwitechnology.co.uk, they will turn from green to red once a food is no longer safe to eat.

Higgins has claimed many consumers are frustrated with the fact that they have to remember when they opened a jar in order to be sure that their food is OK to eat. In an interview with foodmanufacture.co.uk, he claimed that the UWI label would prove useful to both consumers and manufacturers.

"Supermarkets admit it's now not politically, commercially or environmentally acceptable to be seen to be making profit out of consumers' waste. Being able to offer something inventive to reduce it is a win-win.

"For manufacturers, we see the label as being a brand differentiator and it will be 10 times less expensive than anything similar that has gone before."